A chronicle of the ups and downs of a life with sticks in hopes of encouraging others
to reach new heights with yarn and laugh a little.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Knitter's Frustration

My story starts, as most do, rather simply. I have a new niece. I saw in the store an adorable blanket and sleeper in lovely pink and brown combo. It was on sale. I figured I'll make a little hat to match. Easy enough, right?

We go to the store, the 3yo and I. We find parking right out front (an amazing feat given the lack of parking in Cambridge). We walk in and the very first yarn we pick up is perfect - it's the exact colors we need and it's superwash -- perfect for a busy mom who doesn't have time to hand wash baby hats.

It's a little on the pricey side, but it's so soft and so pretty and I had a gift certificate from Christmas. The only problem is we (I)can't choose from among the four perfect-colored skeins. We (I) decide to get all four and make two hats. (The 3yo brings over to me a $65 skein of pure Cashmere, and says, "How about this one?" Boy, does she have great taste! Yikes.)

Then I get home. Then it hits me - Now that I have four fabulous yarns, I need to have an equally fabulous pattern to match. I remember seeing one in a magazine that might be a good one - but which magazine!? I have stacks and stacks of them. I've been through all of them and I can't find it again. Aaarrrrrggghhhhhhhh! I've found about 202 other patterns I want to make (and consequently feel entirely deprived since I can't begin knitting all of them immediately). Why do I keep all these magazines? Are they treasured sources of inspiration or anchors weighing down my creativity and cluttering up my work space?

I did come across some nice baby hat patterns - but not the one I was thinking of and none of them quite special enough. I've found some other patterns on the web but in the wrong size (I know I can convert, I was just hoping to not have to.) The problem, of course, is that every hour this baby is getting bigger - I have to knit quick so she can wear it at least a day before it's too small. (Maybe I should buy her a doll that can where the hat when she grows out of it.)

On a side note - for hat knitters: in doing research for this project, I came across a purl of wisdom from the Yarn Harlot - when knitting a rolled-brim hat, it will fit better if you drop down a needle size or two for the rolled part. That explains part of my hat sizing problem.